The telecommunications provider has commissioned Crime Stop to run a media campaign to encourage members of the public to provide information about persons involved in stealing its copper cables or to report cable theft in progress. 

The programme, which hits the newspapers and airwaves tomorrow, urges citizens to call the Crime Stop Hotline at 311 with information and earn cash rewards of as much as $1 million. In keeping with Crime Stop’s standard procedures callers will remain completely anonymous. 

This action on the part of the Company comes against the background of a spate of cable thefts which has cost C&WJ millions since the beginning of the year, and which has severely hindered its ability to deliver service to its customers.

“Since the start of the year it has cost us well over $1-million to replace stolen cables and repair vandalised equipment and we cannot even begin to put a cost to the frustration our customers have experienced because they have had their service disrupted,” C&WJ’s Chief Operations Officer, Jim Pitchford disclosed.

“The fact is that Cable & Wireless Jamaica has spent billions of dollars developing its telecommunications infrastructure and we cannot afford to have it destroyed and to have our customers without service for indefinite periods because of criminal activity,” he added.

In the last 11 months C&WJ has been hit with close to 200 occurrences of cable theft with approximately 76% of these being repeat incidents. While cables have been stolen in every parish the problem has reached epidemic proportions in St. Ann, St. Mary and St. Catherine. 

Recently, thieves removed most of the major transmission cables in the Hellshire region of St. Catherine leaving practically every community in that area without telephone and internet service; and citizens in Ewarton, Mount Rosser, Treadways, Linstead and Sligoville are among those who have suffered severe and repeated inconvenience as those areas have experienced multiple cable thefts. 

“When people steal cable, it puts entire communities at risk because people cannot call the police, the fire brigade, an ambulance or even a neighbour or relative to ask for assistance,” Mr. Pitchford emphasised.

He added, “thousands of people depend on our telecommunications services -- from large companies to small businesses, from individuals who work from home to students who use the Internet for their school work. This problem affects everybody, so we are now calling on everyone to get involved in stamping it out.”